Step 1: Ingredients

Step 2: Drain, Cut and Marinate

Drain the tofu by wrapping the block in cloth or paper towels then place between two plates and put some weight on top ( a bag of flour or something about that weight) and let it sit for about 15-20 min. Cut the tofu into strips, then put them in a zip-top bag. Then add the other ingredients, I just eyeball it, but, I would say about a table spoon of all the wet ingredients and 1/2 of the dry. Then close the bag squeezing out as much of the air as possible. Then put it in the fridge overnight.

Step 3: Prepping for the oven

I don't have a dehydrator so I used the oven, if you have a dehydrator use that. Set the oven to 200, this takes a few hours so there's no reason to pre-heat. Put some parchment paper on a baking sheet and then put the tofu on top of that.

Step 4: Cooking/Drying

Put it in the oven and let it cook/dry for 4-6 hours flipping every hour. The time will vary depending on the humidity.

Step 5: Finishing

When it's done it should look like it does below. I know it looks burnt and not very tasty, it's not burnt and it is tasty! You can change the ingredients to match your own tastes I just listed how I did it. Enjoy!

Please ignore the trolling below. It's common whenever vegetarianism or veganism comes into the conversation. It's not that I don't like the taste of meat, I grew up with it and liked it up until I realized how that meat got onto my plate, after which it left a horrible feeling in my gut after I ate it. I just don't think a bag of jerky that'll last me 10 minutes is worth a life. To each their own, though. Please keep the comments respectful. If you're looking for a recipe for meat jerky, I'm not sure a recipe for tofu is the place to start, so maybe do a basic google search for a recipe instead of being rude to those who want this recipe.

If you're vegan, substitute the honey for some other sweetener like agave nectar or raw sugar, whatever your preference is. I ended up using my own blend of spices and used this recipe to figure out the times and temperatures. I had a half-bottle of sweet and spicy thai sauce (check for honey when you buy this!) and black bean garlic paste that I mixed together with a touch of soy sauce, hot chili sauce and liquid smoke. The marinade tastes amazing! The tofu is sitting with it now and in a little bit I'll get the oven prepped. I've tried tofu jerky that a friend made using this technique and it was amazing! If the texture feels a bit off when it's fresh out of the oven, stick it in a ziplock bag and stick it in the fridge for about 24 hours. I got my bag of tofu jerky out of my friends fridge and it was amazing! I prefer mine strongly flavored so I didn't use any water to cut the marinade. I'll post a picture when it's finished, so glad I could find such an easy recipe to follow! :)

turn out botched for me didn't compare in the least to normal BEEF jerky. its not fibery like BEEF jerky. ok idea though . one question though, why would you ever want to become a vegitarian? why would you want to give up meat, and as we ll know pork is the meat of kings.

Well aside from being unfunny and unoriginal, apparently all of you must love cattle that are pumped full of growth hormones things that cause the taint to shrink. Oh and I am sure you're such big guys you love higher taxes to pay for meat subsidy...yummm...most likely you guys are just complete asstards who are too afraid of looking weak in front of other men that you'd do whatever you were told to because you are complete cowards and have no minds of your own...kind of like posting the same thing 3 times... oh and hippyland probably made it wrong.

This kind of trolling is common anywhere there is talk of vegetarian stuff for some reason. It's the same with any talk of religion, or lack of it, or political views, or sexuality or anything. People who aren't secure in who they are reassure themselves by attacking those who disagree with them.

I'm just a little confused about it myself. If these people all love steak so much, why don't they read an Instructable about cooking steak?So few websites I'm on have members who bother insulting vegetarians anymore, and I haven't been harassed in real life in years (mind you, I also don't harass others about their dietary choices) or on any websites... Especially not one with a "Be nice" policy. I find it really, really confusing, kind of insulting, and very distressing.

Why would you want to eat road kill? Not much diff between the stuff you buy in the store and the animals on the side of the road. At that. What business is it of yours anyway? Eat meat if you want to. Just don't come down on other people for their choices. If this is an honest inquiry into a person's c hoices, because you desire to learn something, then learn to ask in a more respectful manner.

I'm not a vegetarian, but I love soy-based meat alternatives for one simple reason - camping trips. It is WAY easier to haul textured vegetable protein, dried soybeans, and/or wheat gluten (along with the requisite spices, flavourings, etc) through the bush than it is to haul meat.

can a vegatarian eat honey? sometimes all the bees get killed for the honey, but most of the times they just take that "thing" out and poor the honey into pots i think, anyway, honey is the vomit of a bee :S

lol i know, but they wont cook vegan for me, its hard enough to cook vegatarian every day. i dont think milk and eggs are inportent enough to cook my own meal every day when my mom can do it for me, of course i will be a vegan when i leave the home

And I'll also bet that you can talk them into making at least some meals entirely animal-free if you present them with great recipes you can help make. There are some great vegan cookbooks for kids, and here are some websites with information and recipes:

ive tried to talk with my family but my father, sister and mom wont give up meat :( ive convinced my little brother and some friends :) when i cook (one a week) it will be vegan, and i eat vegan moist of the times, but im not going to make a big deal out of eggs and milk cause its hard to replace them.

most of the times i eat vegan. most of the times i eat pizza ones a week, (with cheese) i think i will change that :P

I know this thread is old, but I wanted to chime in with a couple additional suggestions.

The book Skinny Bitch is pretty awesome and is about 90% responsible for my wife and I going vegan to begin with. Plenty of good information and recipes in there.

The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook has a lot of good ideas for replacing cheese in your home cooked meals. There's a dilled havarti recipe in there that we use as a replacement for the Boar's Head dilled havarti that goes into our veggie pot pie recipe. Goes great in the pies or on a cracker.

And on the topic of pizza, believe it or not, there are several really tasty vegan cheeses out there - Daiya, Follow Your Heart and Teese, to name a few. Check your local health food store or co-op or, if all else fails, veganstore.com for some. (Beware that buying perishables from veganstore.com will cost extra in shipping and the mandatory cold packs that they add to the order.)

Thanks! I love The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook, and Daiya is just incredible.

Now for folks who aren't already vegan, these things don't taste exactly like cheese. But for those who choose not to participate either in the damage to the body that these foods cause, or the damage to the Earth that they also cause, and so aren't having cheese or meat anyway, some of the replacement products make being vegetarian or vegan a whole lot nicer.

Another great product is Gardein. It could be better but it could be a whole lot worse. The previous generation of vegan meat analogues had better take notice, because it's now a lot easier to feed non-vegans with vegan foods.

Also good timing on your note, because HealthyPlanet Long Island is about to have our 17th TurkeyFree Thanksgiving Dinner this Sunday: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=166733346679149 or http://www.healthy-planet.org/Series/index.asp

Well it's usually less about the lack of king sized beds and more about how they are kept in horrible dirty feedlots where they often suffer infections and illness from overuse of antibiotics, and the way they are killed, often being dismembered while still alive and conscious . . . same for chickens and pigs and other animals that are "farmed" . . . also the impact of concentrated animal feedlot operations upon the environment (to name just a few possible reasons.) But hardly ever about beds or comforters.

Honey is not the vomit of a bee. honey is nectar that the bees expose to the air and condense it into what we know as honey. after that given that we don't take it from them they(the bees) store it as food. If it where vomit I really doubt that we would be eating it, that would be the equivalent of eating an owl pellet(owl vomit).

I've found that wheat gluten produces a much better texture than tofu. Post Punk Kitchen has a decent starter recipe, some tips if you go the gluten route. Use a food dehydrator, it produces much better results, cut the slices thick enough so that they are chewy not crunchy. Also I recommend marinating in two stages with a barbecue sauce. I personally like Sweet Baby Rays Honey Barbecue, but they have vegan alternative and I have written the company who assures me that if it looks vegetarian it is. If anyone's interested I can dig up a recipe and maybe throw up a ible.

Stupid political eating views aside! I eat what I want, I'm a free man! not some person that is told what to eat. I have this in the oven right now and can't wait to try it. I avoid meat, because it's murder, and murder is stupid. I don't fill my belly and body with anger and stupidity... Thanks for posting this and giving us a way to be kind and compassionate.